Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age, Vol. 1 of 3: I. Prolegomena II. Achæis; or, the Ethnology of the Greek RacesGladstone, W. E. (William Ewart)
History
Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age, Vol. 1 of 3: I. Prolegomena II. Achæis; or, the Ethnology of the Greek Races
Gladstone, W. E. (William Ewart)
Civilization, Homeric; Epic poetry, Greek -- History and criticism; Homer
Of these only Perseus would not at once fall within the class; and this
is evidently a most noble name, taken from a great Greek hero. Indeed
it must itself stand as a conspicuous example of the rule, if we shall
hereafter be able to show[561] a relationship between the Hellic races
and Persia as their fountain-head.
Lastly, let us take the Myrmidon leaders and commanders. These were,
1. Patroclus; { and after him the heads of the five
son of { divisions.
2. Menœtius.
3. Menesthius.
4. Eudorus.
5. Peisander, son of
6. Maimalus, from μαιμάω.
7. Phœnix. This name may represent, (1) Phœnician
extraction or connection; (2) The palm
tree; (3) The colour of red or purple, akin to
φόνος, and to blood, which the colour φοίνιξ is
supposed to betoken. In any of these three
aspects, it will fall into the Hellic class.
8. Alcimedon, son of Laerces.
9. Automedon.
All these names belong to the higher categories. It is therefore the
general result of our inquiry, that wherever we have reason on other
grounds to presume a Pelasgian origin, we find in the proper names of
persons, unless they chance to be merely descriptive of the country
they inhabited, a decided tendency to represent peaceful, profitable,
and laborious pursuits, or the lower qualities and conditions of
mankind. But wherever from other causes we are entitled to presume an
Hellic relationship, there, so far as a simple etymology will carry
us, the personal appellatives appear to run upon ideas derived from
intellect, power, command, policy, fame, the great qualities and
achievements of war; in short, apart from religion, which does not
appear to enter into the composition of nomenclature at all, all the
ideas that appeal most strongly to those masculine faculties of our
race, in which its perfection was so vividly conceived by the Greeks to
reside.
_Evidence from political and martial ideas._
One among the most remarkable features of the Homeric Poems is, their
highly forward development of political ideas in a very early stage
of society[562]. It seems hardly necessary to argue that these were
of Hellic origin; because the fact is before us, that they make their
appearance in Homer simultaneously with the universal ascendancy of the
Hellic over the Pelasgian tribes wherever they were in contact; and
because, in comparing the two nations together, we shall have occasion
to note the greater backwardness, and indocility, so to speak, of the
Trojans[563] in this respect. I assume, therefore, without detailed
argument, the peculiar relation between the Hellic stock and the
political institutions of Greece.
For similar reasons I shall touch very briefly the relation of the
Hellic tribes to the martial character of Greece.
We may consider the whole Iliad, which represents a conflict between
less Pelasgic and more Pelasgic races, and which gives a clear
superiority to the former, as a general but decisive testimony to this
fact.
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